one of the books from the bible i still value is proverbs.
it's a collection of wise observations of life.
it causes me to think, which is a good thing.. however, i also know that among us former jw's are life lessons that can be reduced to that of a proverb.
"If you want to preserve the past, you won't be able to build the future" (Alan Greenspan)
"The more I get to know people, the more I love my dog" (Diogenes)
"If you say a half-truth, no one will believe you when you say the other half" (Antonio Machado)
"Statistics can be used to prove just about anything. 30% of the people know that" (Homer Simpson)
More quotes that proverbs, but I like them.
it never seems to be brought up in jah's so wonderful org.
but depression seems rampant, i can name 7-10 people right now on antidepreswsant drugs.
Yes I have noticed that.
Increased cases of depression is widespread, a not something exlusive to JW's.
However you make a great point that depression is hitting JW's at noticeable rates... Are't we suppossed to be protected from the maladies of this wicked world, and perpetually happy because of the hope?
I mean, you would expect very few cases of clinical depression within the spiritual paradise.
no i have an english bull terrier, he protects me..
I wish... but our Home-Owners Association doesn't allow it.
dear all,.
i posted my first thread a few days ago and some of you asked me questions i'm more than willing to answer.
but there is so much i want to say to you there's no way i can convey all the information at one sitting, so i've decided to tackle one subject at a time, both for the sake of not boring you and because i'd love to know how you feel about each individual topic.
"A loving God would never have people tormented forever in a Fire Hell" we are taught.
Still the same loving God has allowed for -allegedly- 6,000+ years of all kinds of suffering. I'm not tlaking 'sickness and death'. I'm talking horible, inhumane, unbearable and never ending suffering.
I don't get it.
i am sure all of you know about it by now..
Sammielee,
Agreed. My point is, let his wife decide, let his discrminated employees suit, let the courts decide. Not US the general public.
What I don't get is people making a connection between his show and comedy and his personal/public.
George Harrison was into wife swapping, Lennon was an anarchist, drug abuser, just like Paul: Still, I think they were the best band ever, enjoy their music, and dont think we should 'stamp-out' their records. Just like Jagger cheated on Bianca every 10 minutes, or Charlie Sheen -funny guy-, or Madonna... the list is long.
They are entertainers, not role models. Letterman, if a tad cynical, had a point when he asked "Are comedians going to be held to the same standards as elected officers and clergy?"
I'm not defending the guy; I'm just saying he's just a comedian. Nothing more.
i am sure all of you know about it by now..
What's up with you people? Are you JW's? Judgmental and moralistic?
He's a great comedian, some like him, some don't. Ain't that how it's supposed to be?
He had sex, consensual sex, with a 25~30 yo coworker. They stopped, she started a new relationship, he got married to someone else. Where's the harm? Doesn't that happen all the time?
As Jeff pointed that's what 90% (I'd say 98%) of people within that industry do that. But I'll add a high percentage of the rest of the people do that. No big deal; it's their choice.
It wasn't a minor, it wasn't rape, after years the girl never claimed sexual harassment. Even after ending their relationship she kept working there for a while.
Don't like Letterman? Don't watch it.
Think 'fornication' (as in non-married sex) is wrong? Don't do it.
But stop judging, condemning and calling for punishment. The crook here was the guy trying to rack up $2MM via blackmail.
PS: Blondie is right. Ferguson is way funnier.
dear all,.
i posted my first thread a few days ago and some of you asked me questions i'm more than willing to answer.
but there is so much i want to say to you there's no way i can convey all the information at one sitting, so i've decided to tackle one subject at a time, both for the sake of not boring you and because i'd love to know how you feel about each individual topic.
I'm awake, hermana. And also stunned by the points you make.
I started doubting the organization long ago, and those doubts have only grown and turned into certainties (and not good certainties!).
But only recently have started to have bigger doubts, about the whole big picture. My beef is with Human suffering, although you make a great point about animal suffering.
I've always bought into the "Porque permite Dios el sufrimiento?" explanation. But in the past few years I've grown sensitive to the issue. A girl abducted and raped 3 times a day, every day, for nine months... Thousands dying of hunger, literally fading and losing their tissue to starvation, little by little, eternal second by eternal second... I just can't take it. When I add all the human suffering (that I'm aware of), I just can't see how it is loving to let that go for thousands of year only so God can make his point in his case against Satan? Forgive me Lord, but I don't get it.
We are told we have to see the bigger picture: that 9 months, or a few years are nothing to the eternal and almighty. But doesn't the point of view of those suffering count? It's just horrible, and yet we don't know all that's going on.
Explanations like "All will be resurrected", "Eternal youth and health and happiness are worth this", "This is temporary", "For God 1000 years is like a day", "God knows you better and he only lets you be tested as far as you can resist"... to me all has grown hollow, and senseless. Self-serving hollow phrases.
Believe me Goldensky, I understand you more than you think. I'm in, and don't know what to do.
dear all,.
i discovered this site only a couple of weeks ago and i already feel affection for you.. i am a 48-year-old woman and i live in spain, where i was born and raised, so i apologize in advance for my inevitable lack of style and possible grammar mistakes, due to english not being my native tongue.. i grew up in the truth and jehovah and the congregation have filled my whole life.
i've had little contact with the outside world.
Goldensky: Welcome from a 30+ years active spanish-speaking witness, also struggling with my english. Bienvenida, Maja!
Leolaia: Brains are sexy! I Love you
in life, i usually trust new people, at least on face value, until i discover otherwise.
yet, my normal belief system is now in doubt.
i've just replied to a thread started by 'goldensky' - an alleged spanish lady with lots of history as an extremely devout jw in spain.
Tranquila, Goldensky. Aqui todo el mundo duda de todo el mundo. No olvides que quien viene a este 'site' es porque tiene dudas sobre su religion. Pero es un buen sitio y hallaras muchas respuestas.
When I joined this board (after years of lurking), a lot of people jumped over me because I said I'm an elder and former CO (which is true); I guess they thought I had some 'special insight'. I read a lot, and posted frequently, but then grew tired of many threads dealing with minutiae, and that unbearable 'Reniaa' stage this board went thru a few months ago.
But as I told Goldesnky (above, in Spanish, one of my two mother languages), this site is great. There's a considerable degree of distrust and eve hostility, but I would expect that, considering people get here driven precisely by doubt and feeling deceived. So, yes, paranoia is part of the deal. But I enjoy it, and have come to 'know' great people here, people I like, despite the fact that I don't know them.
We have to stop labeling everybody. That's in part what we're trying to get away from in the WTS. I'm and elder; I don't reveal my identity. Does that make me an "undercover elder"? Sure! But it doesn't mean I'm here fishing for information or spying. I'm just broadening my views, findind the truth, learning from other people's experience.
Newbies like Goldensky can only enrich this experience. Trolls like who opened this post, just feed the paranoia.
He dicho!
hello all, i have been lurking, looking, reading, and digesting for around 2 years and it seems the time is right to post.
i recently had one of those moments at the kindom hall where i found myself looking around thinking "am i the only one who gets it, why doesn't anyone else have this puzzled look on their face?".
said during is second talk to the congregation "all of our food, our magazines, and all our wonderful books, and videos come from/through these 9 men".
Welcome SWA. I hear you. With increasing frequency I experience those moments you describe at KH... I look around and find nothing but people nodding. WTF!
Sir82: Are you sure you don't work for the writing committee? God, you have mastered their language and twisted phrasing. Jokes aside, I think you nailed in how they're gonna do it. Come on, they have decades of experience in the field of saying without saying.
And as for the CO stating what he said: that's the beauty of it. He can always explain what he "really meant"; WTS can always say "He said that, we didn't". Just like '75: "You misunderstood. Some said certain things..."
